Most companies link their promotions to days that people love to celebrate: Christmas. Super Bowl Sunday. Fourth of July.

Several big chains, however, are tying their latest campaigns to a day that many dread….Tax Day.

Seattle’s Best Coffee, for instance, is promising to mail a “Great American Coffee Refund” – a 1.75-ounce sample of ground coffee that can make 10 cups – to the first 100,000 people who claim one by pressing the “like” button on the company’s Facebook page. (The deadline, of course, is April 17 – or while supplies last.)

“Any way you crunch the numbers, Tax Day deadlines are stressful ,” said Seattle’s Best chief marketing officer Chris Bruzzo in announcing the promotion, adding that he hopes the refund “will help make Tax Day a little brighter.”

Meanwhile, Sonic, the drive-in franchise chain, is offering customers Tax Day "deductions" in the form of half-price fountain drinks and slushes on April 17.

Of course, just like with filing taxes, customers are reporting some frustration.

Yesterday, several Seattle’s Best fans posted on Facebook that they were having technical difficulties applying for their coffee sample.

Seattle’s Best, a unit of Starbucks Corp., explained in a post that “because of the high demand for free coffee samples, we're experiencing higher than usual load times on the application.” The chain said it was working to resolve the issue.